I want to say thank you – Guardiola praises Manchester City owners for new signings

Pep Guardiola thanked the Manchester City hierarchy for their close-season transfer dealings after watching his new-look side kick off the Premier League campaign with victory at Brighton and Hove Albion.

After finishing a disappointing 15 points behind champions Chelsea last term, City embarked on a spending spree to freshen up their squad.

Kyle Walker, Bernardo Silva, Danilo, Benjamin Mendy and Ederson have all arrived as City splashed out over £200million.

And City started the campaign with a comprehensive 2-0 win over newly promoted Brighton, with only Mendy not featuring of the new boys – Sergio Aguero and a Lewis Dunk own goal sealing all three points.

Guardiola was pleased with his side’s dominant display and expects his squad to go from strength to strength as they bed in.

“I want to say thank you to the club, for the next four, five years we have young players with huge talent,” he said.

“Last season with Leroy [Sane] and [Ilkay] Gundogan, this season with Bernardo, Danilo, Mendy and with Kyle – they are young enough to play four, five years. So big congratulations to all people working with City, we are a strong club.

“I want to continue with what we did in the last three games of pre-season. We were stable but we have to try to improve. The most important thing was to win the first game.”

But the Catalan still noted areas for improvement as City look to deliver silverware for Guardiola in his second season.

“We are here to win games, we won but it is just the first one,” he added.

“We have to learn to attack better. The big teams have to handle all situations. I am satisfied, especially with the second half.”